The South African appeal court Tuesday accused the government of “disgraceful conduct” in allowing Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to leave the country despite an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC).
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“It is a stinging rebuke to the government for its failure to abide by its domestic and worldwide obligations to arrest President Bashir and surrender him to the global Criminal Court”, said Netsanet Belay, Amnesty International’s Research and Advocacy Director for Africa.
The court dismissed the State’s appeal against a high court ruling that government’s failure to arrest Al Bashir was inconsistent with its constitutional duties.
People of African origin that have been charged by the ICC include Joseph Koni, a Ugandan rebel leader; President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan; President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and his Vice-President, William Ruto; former Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi and former Cote D’Ivoire President, Laurent Gbagbo. If it opts not to, the National Prosecuting Authority will be required to take action against those who ignored the court’s instruction that President al-Bashir be kept in the country.
Al Bashir is still wanted by the ICC for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur in Sudan.
“The assurances that he was still in the country given to the (High) Court at the commencement and during the course of argument were false”, the SCA judges said.
The South African government has, however, defended its decision, saying it has obligations to the AU, which bans the arrest of any sitting head of state in African countries. But the Sudanese leader has found support from African leaders who are critical of the ICC, which they say only targets leaders from the continent.
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The ruling means that anyone facing similar charges won’t be able to set foot in South Africa without getting arrested. When a South African human rights group brought an urgent high court application for South Africa to comply with its worldwide obligations however, he vanished.
